USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Warren > The history of Warren; a mountain hamlet, located among the White hills of New Hampshire > Part 36
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Sit down by the pond where tiny Cold brook comes in. There the wild rose is putting out and the elder is in flower. The lilies are as lovely as ever, the butter-cups as yellow ; harebells, violets, and a thousand other kinds of flowers listen to the tinkling music of the stream.
The May flies in thousands come forth to their day-life, flying up and down. There are horse flies and red flies pestering the cattle on the hill-side opposite; but the king-bird, laughing from the breezy maple top, is after them. Over the water midges are celebrating their airy labyrinthine dances with amazing adroitness looking almost like columns of smoke as they shine in new life and new beauty. Dragon flies of all sizes and colors,- boys call them devil's darning needles, and say, " Look out or they will sew your eyes up," - are hovering and skimming, and settling among the water plants or on some twig, evidently full of enjoyment. The great azure bodied one with its filmy wings darts past with reckless speed, and slender ones, blue, and purple, and dun, and
* Joseph Patch used to kill moose near the head of Merrill brook.
A*
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
black, and jointed bodies, made as of shining silk and animated for a week or two of summer sunshine by some frolic spell, now pursue each other and now rest in sleep.
The bob-o'-link in the meadow up the brook, flies up and down on balancing wings uttering its many toned joyous songs, tittering as if in high glee; swallows are skimming along the fields and over the waters catching flies ; the song sparrow sings so sweet in the flowers and grasses, the white throated finch warbles tender and plaintive in the fir copse up by Amos Little's field ; the Maryland yellow throat in the alders over the water says " sit- u-sce, sit-u-see," in such a winsome way; water-wag-tail repeats its " crake, crake," from the grass in the swamp ; the spotted sand- piper says, "weet, weet," from the old log and muddy bank ; crows are cawing in the woods across the pond, and the water itself ripples on, clear and musical, and checkered from many a leaf and bent and moving bough. We lift up our heads and in the west above Stephen Lund's where farmer Joshua lived once, what a ruby sun, what a gorgeous assemblage of sunset clouds.
The oats, rye, barley, and wheat, were good this year, 1817, and when they were gathered, autumn with its rich corn harvest, and all its happy human groups, and bright days of calm, steady splendor came. After the first frosts, the Indian summer began, and a soft haze pervaded the atmosphere and settled like a thin gray cloud on the horizon, bringing a delicious, sweet, sleep- like feeling, which seemed to fill the valley. On all sides the sky appeared resting upon a wealth of colors, orange and yellow, pur- ple and crimson, blue and green, and red, and every shade and hue that mantled the forests of the mountains. In the woods on the edge of the clearings, fields and pastures, red squirrels chased one another over crisp leaves on the ground and along the limpid branches of the trees, yelping and chattering like king-fishers. Fox-colored sparrows, nut-hatches and great golden-winged wood- peckers vied in their notes and seemed resolved on merriment while the season lasted. The white-crowned sparrow came down from Labrador where it had spent the summer rearing its young and singing all the day long, and stopped a day or so by the banks of the Asquamchumauke, before it hastened on its journey to its winter home in Florida and the West Indies. Wild geese with
419
THE FALL OF THE YEAR.
their weird hawnk-honk-e-honk, were seen tearing the yielding air with wings fierce and strong, as in harrow-like form they hur- ried down the valley, and now and then the farmer in his field would hear a strange, wild cry, coming seemingly from mid heaven, as a flock of swans, flying more than one hundred and twenty miles an hour, clove the air thousands of feet above the mountains. As the days went by, the leaves of the trees merging from their bright dappled colors into a dull uniform brown, dropped to the earth and were swept by the winds into dusty, crackling torrents, and borne to unknown resting places on the bosom of every tinkling rill. The turnips were dug, potatoes garnered in the cellar, apples carried to the cider-mill and the corn was stacked for husking.
The cider mill! Who does not have one in recollection. They made cider at Mr. Nathaniel Clough's in those days. Mr. Samuel Merrill built the first and only one in the East-parte; then old Mr. Batchelder and Mr. Foote each had one on Pine hill, and Capt. Joseph Merrill one by the village burying ground. What pleasant memories of bins of russet, red, and golden apples, of the great cog-wheels, of the horse going round and round attached to the creaking crane, the crushed apples in the great trough, the large wooden screws that compressed the cheese that was put on so neatly in fresh yellow straw, the gushing juice that flowed so freely at every turn of the levers, into the great holder beneath, and `us boys with oaten straws sucking our fill from the little brooklet running down, better pleased and happier than kings. May the picture of the old cider-mill never fade away.
Husking bees were common then in our hamlet among the hills, they are common in Warren now. Generally they were on pleasant evenings in the early part of October. They had one at Joseph Merrill's this season, the grandest one of the year. The people collected from nearly every district in town, my father and his numerous brothers, the Clough boys, the Patches, the Clements, consisting of several families,-old Obadiah would not go,-the Merrill's, and they were numerous, the Batchelders, Richardsons, Lunds, Pillsburys, Dows, and many others, were there. The corn was piled in the centre of the capacious kitchen, and around the heap squatted the huskers. The room was abundantly as well as
*
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
spectrally lighted from the immense fire-place briskly glowing with pitch knots and clumps of bark. Boys and girls, young men and their wives, and some old people listened to songs and varied their labors with such pleasantry as was natural to the occasion. Great ardor was evinced in pursuit of the red ear, for which piece of for- tune the discoverer had the privilege of a kiss from any lady he should nominate. Stevens Knight was the lucky finder, and peo- ple who remember him can well imagine how he stammered and blushed, and refused to kiss any girl, and how one of 'Squire Abel's daughters threw her arms around his neck and gave him a good smack amidst the shouts and laughter of the whole party. Nobody accused Stevens Knight of bringing the red ear in his pocket.
The pile was finished and the hard glossy ears were stored away under the eaves of the garret. Then new cider and old was passed around, and some had something stronger. All now repaired to the hall over the bar-room; the violin sounded and the young folks formed for a dance. Enoch R. Weeks danced with Sally Little, Col. Benj. Clement with Miss Dolly Gove, Nathaniel Copp with Miss Mary Pillsbury, and so on; we have forgotten the names of the others. Billy Brock the fiddler was a grand musician and his very soul seemed breathing in his music .* All gloom disappeared and fun and frolic saw them into the small hours.
For variety came the supper. There were great dishes of beans and Indian pudding, pumpkin pies, pewter platters full of dough-nuts, sweet cakes, fruit and cheese, cider, bottles of native wine and spirits washing it down. And then they danced again. We won't go home till morning, was the way they did at this happy husking.
Who can blame them! Peace, plenty, and health had come,
* Billy Brock was of Ryegate, Vt., and was the best fiddler in all the country round. He would balance a tumbler of whisky on his head, dance with it, lie down on the floor with it and all the time be playing the violin for others to dance. Nathaniel Copp tried to fiddle for a party, could only play one tune, broke the fiddle strings trying to play another, and the party broke up in a huff. They sent over the Height-o'-land to get the fiddle for him.
Mrs. Jonathan Clongh, then Miss Pillsbury, danced with Joseph Patch, Jr. Mary Pillsbury with Joshua Copp, Jr. Sally Little and Tamar Little daneed. The Patches were all dancers. Joshua Copp, 3d, danced. Betsey, who married Joseph Farnham, Sally, who married 'Squire Weeks, Mary, who married Mr. Clark
421
A PROSPEROUS SEASON.
and why should not the people of our great history be happy at the close of so fruitful and prosperous a year as 1817.
of Landaff, 'Squire Abel's daughters, all danced. 'Dolly Gove and Betsey Gove, Sally White and Ruth White, Col. Cole, father of D. Quincy Cole, all of Wentworth, used to come to Warren to dance. Also Miss Dolly Page. Jonathan Clement's girls,- one of them married uncle Tom Pillsbury, and the other Lt. Perkins Fel- lows,- danced. Col. Ben. Clement is the son of-Jonathan Clement, innkeeper .- Anson Merrill's statement.
CHAPTER VIII.
WHAT A WOMAN CAN DO AND HOW SHE DID IT; OR THE ACCOM- PLISHMENT OF ONE OF THE GREATEST "REQUISITES " OF THE LAST CENTURY, VIZ: THE BUILDING OF A MEETING HOUSE.
REV. PETER POWERS preached the first sermon in Warren, Rev. Elijah R. Sabin brought the doctrines of John Wesley, Methodism, to our hamlet among the hills, and Rev. Jo- seph Boody founded a society of Freewill Baptists in the valley. These and their associates preached sometimes out in the open air, sometimes in the houses or barns of the settlers, and some- times in the school-houses; for as yet there was no meeting-house in Warren. The first generation of Warren's settlers had tried hard to build one during the last years of the eighteenth century, but had failed in the attempt and then the enterprise slumbered .*
'Squire Jonathan Merrill's wife had died. He found another lady-love, the widow Chellis, down country, and eventually mar- ried and brought her to live in Warren .; She told the 'Squire that it was a shame for so smart a town as Warren to be without a
* 1806 .- " Voted to choose a committee of six persons for the purpose of ap- pointing another committee of three indifferent persons living out of town, for the purpose of establishing a suitable place in this town for erecting a house for pub- lic meetings. Chose Col. Obadiah Clement, William Butler, Mr. Jonathan Fellows, Capt. Joseph Patch, Lient. Stephen Flanders, and Mr. Aaron Welch, for the above mentioned committee."
Dec. 17, 1803 .- " Voted not to build a meeting-house in the town way, but that we are willing it should be done by subscription."
Paid William Butler for money he paid the committee for appointing a place to set a meeting-house, $15.00. For expenses at Clement's, 70c .- Selectmen's Records, Vol. i.
t The widow Chellis was from Amesbury, Mass.
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THE MEETING HOUSE FRAMED.
meeting-house. She told it to him twice, and she gave him curtain lectures on the subject; in short she gave him no peace till he came to think as she did about it, and until he had stirred up the whole town about the matter and made them all feel that it was an " abominable shame " for the town to be without a meeting- house.
So in the selectmenship of Joseph Patch, Jr., Moses H. Clem- ent, and Stephen Flanders, 1818, the citizens of our little democ- racy in General Assembly voted to build a meeting-house, the size to be forty feet by fifty feet within joint. Chose Jonathan Merrill , Nathaniel Clough, Abel Merrill, and James Williams a committee to superintend its building, and for that purpose was appropriated all the money due the town on the leases, including the present year, and also the avails of the wild land belonging to the town. What can't a woman do?
To the building of the house the committee proceeded in right good earnest. The frame, that good old oaken one, which is yet as good as new, was hauled from many a dark recess of the old woods, the inhabitants ready to assist, giving many a long day's work. In the neighborhood of Wachipauka pond where the Indians used to camp the oaks were cut, and the long timbers for the ceiling over head; and the masts in the steeple, nearly a hundred feet high, came down from Pine hill, the first selectman, Joseph Patch, Jr., having taken the job to put them upon the ground. Reuben Clif- ford was the master workman; he could handle a broad axe better than any man in town, and he could hew almost as smooth as one could plane. Amos Little and James Dow helped hew. James Williams took a job of boring, and Samuel Knight made pins. People loved to come and look on, and the master workman would good naturedly say, " You must bring something to treat with if you want to stop about here." The people were so well pleased with his work and the enterprise, that he got many bottles of old rum to drink.
By the first of July the frame was ready for crection, and the " Fourth " was decided to be the time when the raising should take place. What preparations were made for that day! They must have a grand collation and so the building committee had a table constructed, and rude benches on each side of it across the
424
HISTORY OF WARREN.
entire common. All day long the third of July the farmers' wives and their daughters had done their very best cooking for the colla- tion. How anxious they were when they went to bed the night before the raising.
The morning of that expected day at last dawned; but before the sun had kindled a rosy light on the bald top of Mooschillock, or on the green wooded summit of Mount Carr, the workmen were on their way. Few indecd were the sleepy persons found that morning, for a raising was a raising in those days, and every body was delighted to attend; but the raising of a meeting-house was a sight seldom witnessed but once in a life-time.
From every quarter they came; the good man and his buxom dame, and their rosy daughters who had spent a long hour more at the toilet that morning than usual. All were there, and by the presence of those fair faces many a young man was stimulated to perform herculean feats of lifting and mounting giddy heights, every way worthy of his ancestors. All about the destined spot lay strewn the heavy timbers. The old men with shining broad axes were shaping pins, or smoothing the end of many a tenon, while the master builder, Reuben Clifford, with rule under his arm, and feeling the great responsibility resting upon him, was moving hither and thither, now giving directions to one party and then to another, whom drolly enough he had designated his oxen, his steers, and his bulls, in order that they might more readily come at the word. These were tugging, lifting, and straining themselves into very red faces as they carried the heavy timbers over the nu- merous blocks and chips. The building committee were there also giving instructions to each other, the master builder, and every one else.
And now one huge broadside is ready. The rugged yeomanry of Warren range themselves side by side; the master builder gives the word, " All ready, heave-er-up!" shouting in the most won- derful manner; and creaking and groaning, that old oaken broad- side slowly riscs. A pause- the stout following poles hold; and now long pike poles are applied, guided firmly by strong arms, and again that broadside goes up, as a lush comes over the anxious crowd, eagerly watching, but who soon breathe more freely as the huge timbers erect settle firmly into their resting places. And
425
THE MEETING HOUSE RAISED.
now with no laggard hands the remaining broadside and the cross-timbers are put in their places, and long ere the rays of the setting sun had departed, the roof, with its crowning steeple tow- ering above, was in its proper position.
Here succeeding generations must lament the loss of that speech called naming the house, every way worthy of the occasion, which Col. Benjamin Clement delivered from the ridge-pole. The gentle breezes of that summer day wafted it far over the green foliage of the wood to the distant hill-sides, where it was recorded in their beautifully shaded dells; but no man can read their phonography .*
Then True Stevens exhibited a mighty feat of jumping ten feet at a leap on the plates and cross-timbers, thirty feet above the ground, the whole length of the frame, and Samuel Knight stood on his head upon the ridge-pole and made flourishes with his feet up into the clear sky, much to the delight of the assembled multi- tude who held their breath at the sight.
The oration and the gymnastic feats were each greeted with a great shout, and then all the cider possible was drank and they hurried to partake of the grand collation so bountifully prepared for them. Mrs. James Williams, from the East-parte, took charge of setting the tables, and Aunt Ruth Homan and her beautiful daughters, and Mrs. Daniel Ramsey acted on the committee with her. Mr. James Williams and Mr. Samuel Merrill brought out whole wagon loads of the very best eatables, and the Beech hill- ites and the dwellers of Runaway pond and those from the Height- o'-land, Pine hill, the Summit, and the Forks, also brought a great abundance. There was an immense crowd, many from the neigh- boring towns ;; and how they ate, for it was a free collation; and
. * It was customary to name all buildings. Jack Tennant got off this, Jesse Little having composed it for him, on a building Gov. Samuel Flanders framed for Gov. Stevens Merrill :-
" Here is a frame deserves a name, Here is a frame deserves a name.
It is made of spruce and sapling pine-
It was taken down old and put up new,
And you all can see what two Governors can do."
They were called Governors because each had had a few votes for governor at some town meeting.
Then there was a shout, and they had all the cider they could drink.
t Rice Howard and Mr. Samuel Bennett, both of Haverhill, noted gamblers, who attended all musters and public gatherings, were present. It was wonderful what sums of money they would fleece out of the simple country people. The numerous anecdotes of their exploits would fill a volume.
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
how happy they were when they went home that night, thinking they would now have such a nice meeting-house.
Captain John Gove, the witch killer of Wentworth, and his two sons, Edward and Winthrop, all excellent carpenters, fin- ished off the house. Captain Gove hired a room at the store Capt. Benjamin Merrill built, and his daughters, Dolly and Betsey, cooked for and boarded them during the time. Messrs. Tucker & French, from Haverhill, painted the outside and inside of the meet- ing-house, steeple and all, and boarded at Joseph Merrill's inn while doing the work. Anson Merrill, a boy then, raised the, money by subscription to paint the inside; but it was not all finished that year .*
George W. Copp, son of 'Squire Joshua Copp, went over the Height-o'-land and got the underpinning near Tarleton lake. He hammered and set it very nicely.
The work progressed steadily, and early in the fall, though it was not fully finished, the meeting-house was dedicated. The widow Chellis, 'Squire Jonathan's second wife, was a Congrega- tionalist, and of course no minister but a Congregationalist was fit to preach the dedicatory sermon. Rev. Edward Evens lived at Wentworth. He was a talented man, preached half the time in that pious town, was a missionary the other half, and during week days attended to the duties of Judge of Probate for Grafton County, which office he held. He was the one 'Squire Jonathan's wife selected to preach, and of course he did it.
But all the people must be pleased, so Rev. James Spencer, a Freewill Baptist preacher, assisted, making the prayer and reading the hymns.
The choir of Warren was anxious that day; but its members did their best. Joseph Boyntont was leader, and an excellent singer was he. Betsey Knight, daughter of Samuel, sung air, Mrs. Joseph Boynton,- Sally Knight once,- sang counter or alto, while Betsey Little, Jesse Little, Benj. Little and others assisted. The critics of those days said the choir did exceedingly well.
* Nathaniel Richardson shaved the shingles put on the old meeting-house.
t Funeral .- Joseph and Orlando, sons of Joseph Boynton, once had a funeral over a grasshopper. They dug a grave, preached and sang, and then prayed that " the Lord might be merciful to the leastest aud lastest remains of ye poor grass- hopper." Orlando, it is said, shed tears, and a whole generation remembered that prayer. Iantha, a sister of Joseph and Orlando, was chief mourner.
1
Jinouly Yours Og Biely
427
SALE OF PEWS.
Edward Evens was hired to preach in Warren half the time, for several years, and the town voted in 1819 to appropriate the interest of the minister lands towards paying him .*
After the dedication came the sale of the pews. They were set up at auction as is usual in such cases; the person bidding the highest having the first choice and the next highest the next choice, and so on till all were sold. Amos Little got the best pew, the right hand front one, in the broad aisle. He said he was not going to be second to anybody in relation to pews. 'Squire Jona- than Merrill got the next, the left hand front one. He pretended to be a little mortified because he did not get the first; but shrewd folks said he was sharp and had got the best pew after all - the widow Chellis thought it was the best.
James Williams, Moses H. Clement, and Joseph Merrill, each had pews back of Amos Little's on the right-hand side of the broad aisle, in their order, and Abel Merrill, his son Daniel Merrill, and William Kelley, had them in the same manner back of 'Squire Jonathan's.
Sept. 21, 1819, at a town meeting held for the purpose, the following report of the building committee was read and accepted, viz :-
1st. The meeting-house finished except the painting.
2d. All the pews disposed of and are the property of the pur- chasers when paid for, otherwise the property of the committee. The purchasers and owners of pews to have the liberty to pass and repass the doors and aisles to and from said pews whenever the doors are open for public worship or town meetings.
* Ministers .- Paid Edward Evens for preaching in 1820, $40.39.
1823 .- P'd Newell Culver, $7.50. Mr. Mills, $7.50. Mr. Washburn, $2.00, all for preaching that year.
Rev. Edward Evens was settled in Enfield, N. H., and was dismissed in 1805. He was quite popular, and collected a church of not far from a hundred members. But Mr. Evens was not an orthodox congregationalist, nor was his church an or- thodox church of that order. Aged people who knew him well say that in senti- ment he was always a Methodist .- Hist. of N. H. Churches, 531.
Rev. Jonathan Hovey, of Piermont, used to preach at Warren, occasionally. He was a congregationalist, and Col. Obadiah Clement and old Mrs. Ben. Brown admired him very much. They used to say they wished he would drive the Meth- odists all out, and then they would have none but decent preaching.
Pay for Preaching .- Rev. Mr. Haynes occasionally preached in Warren, but lived at Romney. Lemuel Keezer, innkeeper, once told him that he would pay him for preaching in grain. He took a two bushel bag, put in wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, buck-wheat, India wheat, and a few small potatoes, and carried it to the parson. The latter looked at it and said he could not make anything out of it. Keezer flatteringly replied, " Well, parson, you can make just as much out of it as I can out of your preaching."
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
3d. The other parts of the house to be for the use of the town upon the following conditions, viz: That the town pay over to the committee all the money and land they agreed to give to encour- age a committee to undertake to build said meeting-house, which was three hundred dollars or thereabouts.
4th. The committee respectfully request the town to unite with them and adopt the best measures or means to finish paint- ing the house and erect door-steps.
JONATHAN MERRILL, NATHANIEL CLOUGH,* ABEL MERRILL, JAMES WILLIAMS, ยก
Committee.
N. B .- There are demands in the hands of the Committee arising from the sale of two pews, viz: number forty-one and forty-two, to the amount of fifty dollars or more, besides what we have laid out painting said meeting-house .;
Reader, the first time I ever went to meeting it was in this old meeting-house, and I sat in number forty-one. It was on the right of the pulpit in the body of the house, and was, like all the rest, a very large pew, twelve feet long and eight feet wide. There were banisters in the pew walls, seats ou two sides that turned up during prayer and often fell down "slam." My mother used to stand me on the seat when they sang, and I often amused myself turning one of the loose banisters to make it squeak during ser- mon. What an object of wonder was the sounding board over the minister's head. Once I asked what it was for, and they told me " that it was placed there so that if the minister told a lie it would fall on his head and kill him." The pulpit was a little castle high up. With what veneration I first entered it. In it was a
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